Recorder Eric Elliott QC told Madsen that he used a "potentially lethal weapon" to plunge the knife in to his girlfriend's thigh.

"You are lucky not to be facing a murder charge," he said.

"If it had severed an artery, she could have bled to death."

Madsen was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and an indefinite restraining order.

He is not likely to be released imminently, however, because the court heard he had been recalled to prison, potentially until February, after previously breaching his licence after an earlier sentence.